For now, please consider Drumzofthesouth as a blog, dormant…Dormant, not dead! There will no longer be posts about new music or music events, but may be the odd update regarding Drumzofthesouth related events, exhibitions and publications. Hopefully you will still find the Drumzofthesouth blog archive useful or entertaining.

I’m gonna take this chance to thank everyone that ever read a blog post… or checked my Flickr account. Being part of the early Dubstep scene and surrounding genres and having the opportunity to document and contribute to it was very special.

I made lots of friends and contacts that I continue to stay in touch with and have had so many great experiences as a result. Thankfully, I’ll never forget a lot of it because I have so many photos, which is partly why I took them. 🙂

I continue to contribute images to media as I when I get requests – we’re now at a point where Dubstep is firmly part of music history and articles and films are being made about the era. These days, I also get people asking me to talk about and share my experiences to students. Which makes me feel old but also proud.

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Thanks to @Hark1Karan for the shout out in his GREAT feature about North Croydon. That’s Upper Norwood, Crystal Palace, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Norbury, Selhurst & Broad Green to you and me. “This side of town is predominantly working class. The community is hardworking and want to see the area improve in terms of investment and resources. This can help social mobility, increase motivation/aspiration and increase the chance of new opportunities being created.” – I get a mention in reference to Music Culture. See more at: http://www.hark1karan.com/north-croydon-community-the-heartbeat-of-croydon/#sthash.tR6X8qHD.dpuf

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My good friend Breezy, (singer and mother), is travelling to the Greek Island of Lesvos this week, to support the thousands of refugees that are there living in terrible conditions. I could not go myself but really want to help also – the photos and stories I’ve been reading in for example, facebook groups like Refugee Child are shocking and very sad. So for this week 25% of all print sales will be donated to Breezy and the group of women who are going there to help. My online store is http://drumzofthesouth.bigcartel.com/ . There are classic prints of Wiley, DMZ, Youngsta and Oneman alongside cityscapes from London and Paris.

Paris is a former home of mine and I am feeling the weight of recent events there but like many I am trying to focus on the beauty that is Paris – among the images for sale is this one of a rainbow next to The Seine – it can be interpreted as representing hope. I like the idea that sales of this and the other prints can go towards helping people in another part of the world. Love is the only way forward. xxx

Hello Lovely Humans! so it is now a few days until i go to Lesvos and truth be told i’m feeling nervous about what i will see and experience when i am there… but your kindness and the kindness of the other volunteers is giving me strength and hope in humanity! so far I have raised £722.22 which is fantastic and i’m so thankful to those who have donated or sent messages of support! Obviously these horrible attacks that happened over the weekend have prompted more fear and suspicion of refugees but please remember that these attacks are exactly what these men, woman and children are running from in the first place! I believe that Love and compassion is the only way to stop the violence, whereas closing the borders and treating these innocent people like animals will only leave room for more hatred to breed… If you can donate then please do paypal.me/breezylee and if you can’t then show love and compassion wherever you can. The world needs it!

Being compelled to share GREAT music is how Drumzofthesouth began; -then, posting photos and words about music that was getting right into my system led me to organise events at Brixton’s Plan B, a tent at Antic Banquet festival and many, many events in and outside of Crystal Palace’s Antenna Studios. I am now taking up the baton from Katherine & Charlie Hannah (Itchy Teeth) and organising the next Live from Alexandra Nurseries event on the 28th of November.

Alexandra Nurseries is a family-run & community oriented garden & vintage home-wares shop & cafe in Penge, South London. This year it was deservedly featured in both Vogue and Time Out. The music will play outside, under the canopy, framed by plants, pots & fairy lights. It’s a magical and unique space in which to listen to music and socialise and I am proud to organise an event there.

I put up a few of my early Dubstep and Grime images on Big Cartel, to make it easier for people who request prints. They’re all from around 2004-2005, all taken in London on Digital camera – at Plastic People except for the one of the lathe, which was captured at Transition Mastering Studios, on film.

Photography shows the passage of time…

Smoking is now banned in UK clubs; Plastic People is now closed; DMZ, who feature in one of the pictures minus Coki celebrate 10 years this year; Wiley enjoyed big success, retired then broke his retirement; Skepta and Boy Better Know are leading a Grime renaissance – the genre never went anywhere, but it’s seemingly in a new chapter, as highlighted by Skepta and BBK on stage with Kanye West at The Brit Awards earlier this year.

Transition Mastering Studios is still in Forest Hill, still captained by Jason. I visited him last year as part of a photo series about Mastering Houses for FACT – he’s still as busy as ever, still trusted by hundreds of producers and DJ’s to produce weightly, soulful low-end; what HAS changed for him and most of the other studios I visited however, is that engineers are increasingly working alone, without the producer or DJ next to them. Also, bedroom producers are now often trying to master music on their own, with sonically disastrous consequences. It’s the internet age.

As for my work – it’s evolved, as it should; I don’t blog as much and have started working with film (fruits of labour, will ripen soon). I still love anything to with cities, am still moved by London and it’s layers of narratives and history, my work is published frequently and increasingly appears in documentaries; commissions are building up and I enjoy researching new publications to work with, especially print media as it is King. For stills, I use the same digital camera that I have used for a few years, updating it with new lenses- it’s battered to the point where the staff in Jessops were cooing over it last week – too many photographer’s in their opinion are obsessed with the latest technology. More than anything else, I love that people collect my images for their walls, it’s the most satisfying feeling. Lastly, I have a new website… www.georginacook.net